Conventional reconstitution, i.e., reheating, of a frozen food in a deep fat fryer provides a palatable and esthetically-pleasing food product. Typically, the reconstituted food product is browned, has a crisp exterior and a moist interior. These properties are achieved by the relatively high temperature and relatively long time the frozen food product is heated during reconstitution in a deep fat fryer.
Reconstitution of a frozen food product in a regular oven, a convection over or a microwave oven often provides a reconstituted product that is palatable, but is not esthetically-pleasing. For example, reconstitution in a microwave oven is performed at a low temperature and for a short time. Therefore, the necessary conditions for imparting the appearance, color, texture, taste, aroma, and total eating experience of a food product that has been reconstituted in a deep fat fryer immediately prior to eating are not present. In contrast, reconstitution of a frozen food product in a microwave oven typically provides a food product having a soggy exterior and a tough interior. These properties are the opposite of properties desired by consumers.
Many attempts have been made to duplicate the taste, aroma, color, texture and total eating experience of food products reconstituted in a deep fat fryer. Exemplary processes used in these attempts include pan-frying in oil and oven baking. These efforts have met with varied, and generally unsuccessful, results. To date, the prior methods suffer from one or more deficiencies, for example, limp, soggy, greasy, or dehydrated reconstituted food products that do not approximate the total eating experience of deep fat fried food products.
More recently, attention has been directed to food products that can be reconstituted in a microwave oven. In microwave oven reconstitution, high frequency energy is passed through the food product. The power absorption or specific absorption rate for a particular food product depends upon a variety of physical and chemical factors, such as frequency, product temperature, the magnitude of the electric field in the product, density and dielectric constants. The high frequency energy excites polar molecules contained within the food product, such as water, and heat is generated.
Due to the large amount of water typically present in microwaveable food products, the food products actually are being cooked in the microwave oven rather than being reconstituted, i.e., reheated. The heating caused by the action of microwave energy upon the water within the food product also often causes structural damage in the form of collapsed areas. In addition, during microwaving, the moisture in the food product is driven outward, thereby causing the exterior to become soggy.
Investigators have attempted to provide frozen food products that, after reconstitution in a microwave oven, exhibit the palatable and esthetically-pleasing properties exhibited by frozen food products reconstituted by deep fat frying. Due to the nature of microwave oven reconstitution, it has been difficult to provide a frozen food product that responds to consumer demands for palatability and esthetics after reconstitution.
Therefore, a major objective of frozen food processors is to provide frozen food products, like French fries, that can be reconstituted by any heat-generating device and exhibit the taste, color, odor, and textural properties for optimum consumer acceptance. For example, it is highly desirable to provide parfried and frozen French fries which, after reconstitution, exhibit a light and tender, but crispy, exterior surface, encasing a soft interior having a moistness level which is neither too dry nor too soggy. However, achieving these desired product characteristics generally has been possible only when the French fries are reconstituted by finish frying in hot oil. Reconstitution of the French fries by alternative means, such as microwave oven heating, generally has resulted in French fries that either are too limp and soggy or are undesirably dry, leathery, and tough.
A publication entitled "Solving the Problem of `Microwave Browning`", Anon., Food Engineering, 53(9), pp. 98-100 (1981) reviews attempts to impart esthetic properties, like browning, to microwaveable foods, including meats, poultry and French fries. The publication discloses adding browning aids to meats, and changing process conditions in the preparation of French fries.
Various proposals have been made with respect to modifying parfry processing conditions and/or the shape of parfried and frozen food products, and especially French fries, in an effort to improve taste and textural characteristics, particularly when the food products are reconstituted rapidly in a microwave oven. As used here and hereinafter, the term "parfrying" refers to the partial frying of a food product to a degree less than that of a fully cooked or "finish fried" food product.
Shanbhag et al. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,931,296 and 5,004,616 disclose frozen French fries dust-coated with potato-derived granules either prior to or after frying the French fries. The subsequently frozen French fries can be reconstituted in a microwave oven.
Makishima et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,839,192 discloses microwaveable French fries that are simultaneously microwaved and fried in an edible oil. The disclosed process avoids shrinkage and deformation of the French fries, and the French fries are sufficiently dehydrated to give a crisp mouthfeel.
Pinegar U.S. Pat. No. 4,590,080 discloses a method of preparing frozen French fries comprising two parfrying steps, with intermediate cooling. The frozen French fries can be reconstituted in a microwave oven.
Present-day frozen food products continue to exhibit undesirable esthetic properties when reconstituted in a microwave oven, a regular oven or convection oven. Optimum esthetic properties are obtained only by subjecting the frozen food product to a finish deep fat frying step. Therefore, a need exists for different types of frozen food products that can be reconstituted quickly and easily by any one of several methods, including microwave oven heating, convection oven heating or finish frying, to provide a highly-palatable reconstituted food having optimized taste, color, and textural properties.
The present invention overcomes the problems and disadvantages associated with prior frozen food products by providing a batter coating for the frozen food products. A frozen food product comprising a foodstuff coated with a batter of the present invention can be reconstituted by any available heating means, including a microwave oven, to provide a reconstituted frozen food product that exhibits palatability and esthetic properties equivalent to a frozen food product reconstituted in a deep fat fryer.